{"id":3974,"date":"2023-08-21T16:16:53","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T16:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/?page_id=3974"},"modified":"2023-11-27T00:14:46","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T00:14:46","slug":"three-poems","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Daria Turner<\/em><\/h4>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

Unmoored.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tell me, what do you think of when you think of <\/span>an<\/span><\/i> American<\/span><\/i>?<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think of cowboys? Do you think of blonde women?<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you see a dad with a beer-gut flipping burgers on a charcoal grill?<\/span><\/p>\n

What about <\/span>America<\/span><\/i>?<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think of red, white, and blue flags against the blue sky?<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think of landscapes? Canyons, rocky rivers,<\/span><\/p>\n

or snow-capped mountains, prairies, or city streets?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I only ask because when Yvonne described her new coworker\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

she said, \u201cShe looks American, she\u2019s White.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Where does that place me? I wondered,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

if I am not White but American.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who does that make me? I pondered,<\/span><\/p>\n

if I am African American, but not African.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But surely, I am more American than you\u2014 I\u2019m sorry, it\u2019s not a competition, but
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

my ancestral story is erased, lost in history, time, and space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I was 7, Ms. Anderson asked us to draw our ancestral country\u2019s flag.<\/span><\/p>\n

My parents had no clue where their people came from,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

other than New Jersey, other than Alabama.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I choose Namibia because I liked the way it sounded<\/span><\/p>\n

and I liked the flag, a sun in the upper left corner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In high school, on cultural heritage day,<\/span><\/p>\n

you\u2019d bring in your perogies, bratwursts, soda breads, and cannolis.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d bring in some money from Algeria that my dad got on a business trip.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

None of these places I am from,<\/span><\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t have an inkling until 2021,<\/span><\/p>\n

plastic tubes and saliva providing answers to generations of questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

But even so\u2014 it would seem strange to appropriate the culture of a country I know nothing of.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But even so\u2014 when I think of homeland, I think of home,<\/span><\/p>\n

the two-story house on the corner, the one with cherry blossoms and the giant red oak tree.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, when they ask me where I\u2019m from,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I hesitate, I sigh, I roll my eyes, I wonder why<\/span><\/p>\n

it even matters.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am from here, a small town in New Jersey.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

My Bedroom of Movies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Little blond boy on the tv screen<\/span><\/p>\n

vowing never to grow up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Me, only 5, not knowing yet<\/span><\/p>\n

what that would mean:<\/span><\/p>\n

being frozen, a child forever.<\/span><\/p>\n

Acorns, stars, and fairy dust.<\/span><\/p>\n

Small black electric box projecting stylized images.<\/span><\/p>\n

So many summer afternoons spent<\/span><\/p>\n

gazing and dreaming,<\/span><\/p>\n

conjuring magnificent lives,<\/span><\/p>\n

making my own, and the life I have now,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

all the lesser.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hearing orchestral sounds that, to this day,<\/span><\/p>\n

make me teary-eyed and wistful.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nostalgic for a <\/span>feeling<\/span><\/i>\u2014but never a memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Forever longing for a moment,<\/span><\/p>\n

that most likely never happened.<\/span><\/p>\n

No, I would not like to go back,<\/span><\/p>\n

brown eyes wide and at the mercy of<\/span><\/p>\n

those ghost-like strangers on the screen.<\/span><\/p>\n

No, I would not like to be so ignorant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, I still long for some kind of delicate reverence,<\/span><\/p>\n

a time when time settled still.<\/span><\/p>\n

White particles in the air danced to the ground, so softly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Breathing, lungs full of fairy dust and dreams,<\/span><\/p>\n

and an entire future therein.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

A Scene from Norma Jeane’s Vanity<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

tears fall down her pearly cheeks,<\/span><\/p>\n

streak cakey lines of wet powder.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

where is she?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

each drop of salty water,<\/span><\/p>\n

i gracefully swipe away with the brush.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

every smoky smudge,<\/span><\/p>\n

never there.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

i continue in this fashion as her sobs turn\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

into deep sighs.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

oh, she\u2019s on her way.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

i continue in this manner until\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the lipstick is painted,<\/span><\/p>\n

wide and scarlet.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the eyeliner drawn,<\/span><\/p>\n

a thin line of kohl.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the blush powdered,<\/span><\/p>\n

two soft rounds of baby pink.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the lashes glued down,<\/span><\/p>\n

wispy and black.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

her hands embrace at her breasts<\/span><\/p>\n

she murmurs, in fervent prayer,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t abandon me!\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

her eyes slowly retreat from\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the surface of the wooden vanity\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

and trace a line up to the mirror.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

locking blue-eyes,<\/span><\/p>\n

the smile appears<\/span><\/p>\n

and<\/span> she <\/span><\/i>is here.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Daria Turner<\/strong> graduated with the Class of 2023, an English major with a comparative literature minor. She\u2019s from a small town in New Jersey and she spends most of her time either reading, listening to music, or writing.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daria Turner   Unmoored.   Tell me, what do you think of when you think of an American? Do you think of cowboys? Do you think of blonde women? Do … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2513,"featured_media":0,"parent":3525,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3974","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThree Poems - Writers House Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three Poems - Writers House Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Daria Turner   Unmoored.   Tell me, what do you think of when you think of an American? Do you think of cowboys? Do you think of blonde women? Do … Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Writers House Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-27T00:14:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/\",\"name\":\"Three Poems - Writers House Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-21T16:16:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-27T00:14:46+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vol. 4 \/ Winter 2023-2024\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Three Poems\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/\",\"name\":\"Writers House Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Three Poems - Writers House Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Three Poems - Writers House Review","og_description":"Daria Turner   Unmoored.   Tell me, what do you think of when you think of an American? Do you think of cowboys? Do you think of blonde women? Do … Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/","og_site_name":"Writers House Review","article_modified_time":"2023-11-27T00:14:46+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/","name":"Three Poems - Writers House Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-08-21T16:16:53+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-27T00:14:46+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/three-poems\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Vol. 4 \/ Winter 2023-2024","item":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-4-winter-2023-2024\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Three Poems"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/","name":"Writers House Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2513"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3974"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4117,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3974\/revisions\/4117"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}